Assignment history

Inventors

• I-Lung Ho (Employer: Applied Optoelectronics Inc)
• Zhengyu Miao (Employer: Applied Optoelectronics Inc)
• Qin Li (Employer: Applied Optoelectronics Inc)

All inventors were employees of Applied Optoelectronics Inc at the time of filing, as evidenced by the assignment of their interest to the company on the application filing date (recorded 2016-04-26, Reel 037624/0113). The correspondent for this initial assignment was an individual associated with AOI, Inc..

Original assignee

Applied Optoelectronics Inc. (AOI) is the original assignee. AOI is an operating company that develops and manufactures fiber-optic access network products for markets such as internet data centers, cable television (CATV), and fiber-to-the-home (FTTH). The patent describes techniques used in optical transceivers, which are products that AOI ships. For example, the patent states that "the optical transceiver 400 may be configured to transmit and receive at a line rate of at least 100 Gb/s... particularly advantageous when using the optical transceiver in, for example, a 100GBASE-LR4 application" (US10042116B2, Abstract, Description). AOI is currently an active, operating company.

Assignment timeline

• 2016-04-25 (executed) / recorded 2016-04-26 — Reel 037624/0113

  • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
  • Assignor: I-LUNG HO, ZHENGYU MIAO, QIN LI
  • Assignee: APPLIED OPTOELECTRONICS, INC.
  • Correspondent: LUNG HSIANG CHENG, AOI, INC., M/S C, 11116 WEST LITTLE YORK RD, SUITE B, HOUSTON, TX 77041
  • Context: Transfer of invention rights from the individual inventors to their employer.

• 2022-11-22 (executed) / recorded 2022-11-28 — Reel 055745/0418

  • Conveyance: SECURITY AGREEMENT
  • Assignor: APPLIED OPTOELECTRONICS, INC.
  • Assignee: CIT NORTHBRIDGE CREDIT LLC
  • Correspondent: JENNIFER TONG, SIDLEY AUSTIN LLP, 2021 SPRING ROAD, SUITE 700, OAK BROOK, IL 60523
  • Context: Securitization of the patent as collateral for a loan.

• 2023-11-20 (executed) / recorded 2023-11-20 — Reel 057039/0418

  • Conveyance: TERMINATION AND RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST
  • Assignor: CIT NORTHBRIDGE CREDIT LLC
  • Assignee: APPLIED OPTOELECTRONICS, INC.
  • Correspondent: JENNIFER TONG, SIDLEY AUSTIN LLP, 2021 SPRING ROAD, SUITE 700, OAK BROOK, IL 60523. This correspondent recurs in this chain.
  • Context: Release of the security interest, indicating the associated loan was satisfied or restructured.

• 2025-08-01 (executed) / recorded 2025-08-20 — Reel 058862/0583

  • Conveyance: SECURITY AGREEMENT
  • Assignor: APPLIED OPTOELECTRONICS, INC.
  • Assignee: BOKF, NA D/B/A BOK FINANCIAL
  • Correspondent: RUTH L. WILLIAMS, SNELL & WILMER L.L.P., ONE ARIZONA CENTER, 400 E. VAN BUREN, PHOENIX, AZ 85004
  • Context: Securitization of the patent as collateral for a new loan.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 10042116
    2016 : Filed by Applied Optoelectronics Inc
         : Assigned from inventors to AOI
    2018 : Issued
    2022 : Security Agrmt to CIT Northbridge
    2023 : Release of Security Agrmt
    2025 : Security Agrmt to BOKF

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — not present. All recorded assignees are either the operating company Applied Optoelectronics Inc or established financial institutions (CIT Northbridge Credit LLC, BOKF, NA D/B/A BOK FINANCIAL). There are no indications of transfers to shell entities.
2. Known asserter in the chain — not present. None of the assignees in the record are recognized as known patent asserters or NPEs.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — present. Jennifer Tong of Sidley Austin LLP is listed as the correspondent for both the Security Agreement recorded on 2022-11-28 (Reel 055745/0418) and the Termination and Release of Security Interest recorded on 2023-11-20 (Reel 057039/0418). This recurrence is within the context of the operating company's financing activities.
4. Cascading transfers — not present. The transfers involve security interests, not outright ownership changes. The timeline shows distinct events related to financing, not rapid sequential transfers of ownership.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — not present. The first reported litigation event for this patent was filed in California Northern District Court (4:23-cv-04787) on 2023-07-26. The only outright assignment of ownership in the chain is from the inventors to Applied Optoelectronics Inc on 2016-04-25 (Reel 037624/0113), which is long before the litigation. The subsequent security agreements are not ownership transfers.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. The conveyances are security agreements and releases, indicating ongoing financing activities by the operating company, not a sale due to bankruptcy.
7. Privateering — not present. There is no evidence of Applied Optoelectronics Inc transferring the patent to an NPE for assertion.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The patent has not been assigned to any known defensive aggregators.

Verdict

Operating-company assertion
The patent remains under the ownership of its original operating assignee, Applied Optoelectronics Inc. All recorded assignments are security agreements or releases of security interests, indicating the patent is used as collateral for financing by the operating company (Reel 055745/0418, executed 2022-11-22; Reel 057039/0418, executed 2023-11-20; Reel 058862/0583, executed 2025-08-01). The litigation associated with this patent (e.g., 4:23-cv-04787, filed 2023-07-26) suggests that Applied Optoelectronics Inc is asserting the patent as an operating company.

USPTO Assignment Center search: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/patent/assignment-result-download.html?id=10042116